2Sustain

Governments, international agencies and corporations are all beginning to fully recognize what environmentalists have known for quite some time: Climate change is going to have a dramatic effect on water resources.

A report released last week by US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar gives us some insight into how significant these effects may be.

The report to Congress, prepared by Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation, is the first comprehensive assessment of how climate change could impact water operations, hydropower, flood control, and fish and wildlife in eight major Reclamation river basins across the western US.

The results indicate that these major river basins, including the Colorado, Rio Grande and Missouri river basins, are all likely to be affected by projected changes in temperature and precipitation. According to the report, the timing and quantity of stream flows in these western basins could impact water available to farms and cities, hydropower generation, fish and wildlife, and other uses such as recreation.

More specifically, the report projects: (more…)

China’s colossal economic growth has come with enormous costs to the environment. China’s water resources have been particularly hard hit, and these days, the Yangtze tops the World Wildlife Fund’s list of the ten most-threatened rivers in the world.

BSR recently took an in-depth look at these issues, focusing specifically on water challenges and risks now inherent in the global electronics supply chain.

For this research, 10 Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC) members submitted supplier names to BSR for matching against a publicly available database containing information on corporate environmental violations. After analyzing the 640 suppliers and matching them against the database, BSR found that: (more…)

Water security has made its way onto the corporate agenda.

Virtually all (96 percent) of companies in a recent survey were able to identify whether or not they are exposed to water risk, and more than half of those that reported risks classify them as current or near-term (1-5 years).

The survey, prepared by Environmental Resource Management (ERM) and sponsored by CDP Water Disclosure, polled more than 100 of the world’s largest companies asking for information on their water use and other water-related business issues. The results show that water is already impacting business operations. For instance: (more…)

Water concerns are becoming more and more globally integrated and complex, and many corporations are now seeking out cooperative partnerships to help mitigate the increasing threat of water risks.

Here’s an example: Just last week, The Coca-Cola Company and The Nature Conservancy announced the release of a water footprint report, entitled Product Water Footprint Assessments: Practical Application in Corporate Water Stewardship. Released in conjunction with World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden, this report details three pilot studies that were conducted on Coca-Cola products and ingredients.

Water footprint assessments like this one provide valuable insights into water use throughout the supply chain, including both direct and indirect water use and the impacts of use on local watersheds and communities. Those insights can then open new opportunities for companies to enhance their water stewardship, while mitigating the risks associated with water scarcity.

For instance, in this particular study, Coca-Cola and the Conservancy found that the largest portion of the product water footprints assessed in the pilot studies comes from the field –not the factory.

“We see significant opportunity to engage more directly with our agricultural suppliers to advance sustainable water use for the cultivation of ingredients in our supply chain,” Denise Knight, Water and Sustainable Agriculture Director, The Coca-Cola Company, said in a press release. “Our initial efforts will focus on the sustainable sourcing of sugarcane, oranges and corn.”

Water footprints typically identify three types of water: (more…)

Building on its agricultural roots and ongoing commitment to support the communities in which it operates, Del Monte Foods recently announced formalized environmental sustainability goals.

The company says it has heightened its focus on three specific areas: reducing waste, lowering water consumption and improving air quality.

For instance, Del Monte has committed to a 75 percent reduction in the amount of waste it sends to landfills (compared to a 2007 baseline), and the company wants to meet this goal by 2016. Both the Milk-Bone plant in Buffalo, New York, and the Del Monte Foods Distribution Center in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania are already zero-landfill facilities, meaning that 100 percent of their waste has been diverted from landfill. As a result of these and other efforts, Del Monte has reduced its waste to landfill by almost 70 percent, and so it appears the company is well on its way to achieving its goal.

In addition, Del Monte has committed to: (more…)